Meet the Friends of the Cousin
by Maple Alycia Hood
Summary: Just when the Autobots thought life couldnt get any more random, what with Prime daughter Tatyana, two of Tai's high school friends show up. Get ready for romantic moments, random quotes, road trips, and a nemesis that Optimus could never forget...
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this fic. Except Maple. And the plot, obviously. Tai belongs to Tatyana Witwicky, Fantasy belongs to fantasyaddict101, and Transformers belongs to Hasbro. **

**NOTE: Fic includes swearing, romance, Tai's rules, Decepticons, random moments, quotes ("I'M NOT YOUR BOYFRIEND!"), and a very pissed off Medic. If any one of these results in extreme laughing fits and/or injuries, I take no responsibility. Especially for the last one. ;)**

**Prepare, readers! You're about to get Simmonsized!**

**...**

_The wind whipped at the 18-year-old girl's hair. Tatyana found herself stood on a very steep hill, and had to steady herself to stop her feet buckling and resulting in her rolling down it and into the darkness below. She silently thanked her increased balance that had come with her new heritage._

_Her eye and optic tried to locate something within the fog that seemed to be forming in front of her. Why was she here? Where was everyone else?_

"_Hello?" She called out into the thick mist. Why was nobody nearby? Where was her father or Jazz or Barricade or Sam or any Autobot/human?_

_A tall silhouette appeared within the fog. The fog cleared, and Tai swore it looked like her father. Only black. And the optics were a startling blood red._

_An evil chuckle followed. A sword came out. The sword went straight for her…_

"Tai-Dye!"

Tai jumped about five feet in the air, and fell off the bed in a heap. She stared at the ceiling for a few moments, trying to figure out what that dream had been about. Why had that robot looked like her Dad, Optimus Prime? And why the hell did it have such a problem with her that it saw the need to stab her?

"Tai?" Sam asked again, clearly annoyed at not receiving an answer the first time.

She came to her senses as she sat up and looked at the door to her room. "What's up, douche?" She called in response.

"Some chick's ringing your cell phone. Says she wants to talk to you."

"Name?" Who could possibly be ringing her at this time?

"Uh, hold on…" There was a muffled conversation, before her cousin's voice came again. "Fan… Fantasy…?"

Immediately Tai jumped to her feet and almost knocked the door down. She grabbed the phone and placed it to her ear. "Oh my God, Fantasy!" She screamed, causing Sam to wince and clutch his ears. And mentally slap himself. How the hell did he forget Fantasy? Not that he'd admit it, of course.

"Oh my God, Tai!" A female voice shouted happily in response. "I haven't heard from you in ageeees! Do you know how long it's been? A year. Almost… But still, a year! That's a violation, Tai. A _violation_."

"I know! I'm sorry! I've been really busy!" Tai responded to her high school friend. Hah, busy was an understatement. "And I mean stupidly busy. But I can't tell you unless I get clearance from… people…"

"People?" Fantasy asked curiously.

"Classified."

"Whoa, you got yourself in the FBI or something?"

Another voice, though a bit quiet, sounded in the background. There was a click, indicating the phone was on speaker. And also indicating Fantasy wasn't alone.

"Tai, what have I told you about blowing stuff up?" A second female voice teased playfully.

Tai's grin grew wider. If that were possible. "Maple! And I wasn't blowing stuff up! Heck, people were trying to blow _me _up!"

There was a screeching sound in the background, followed by what sounded like sirens, and a very inappropriate curse from Maple.

"Bloody rozzers ruining my day." She grumbled. 'Rozzers' were Maple's term for the Police. Tai had yet to find out why she called them that. Perhaps it was a British term, since she was from England.

"We're in a hurry, you know!" Fantasy agreed. "We gotta save Tai from the authorities!"

"What's with the weird tattoo anyway?"

Tai stopped dead. Weird tattoo? She looked at Sam. "Where's 'Cade?" She mouthed.

"Rec room." He mouthed back. So it wasn't her Guardian. There was only one other Police 'Bot that she knew. And she had a feeling he'd startle her two friends before she even had chance to introduce them to her family. This was gonna be fun.

"What does it look like?" She asked.

"Weird face. Wide eyes. Open… is that a mouth? Looks like it…" Maple replied through gritted teeth, as if she was concentrating on pulling away from the Copper.

"Well, I can only suggest you pick up the speed. I gotta get going. Need to talk to my Dad." Tai said, before going to move her finger over the end call button.

"Dad?" Fantasy asked curiously. Tai bit her lip. Her two friends knew that her father had died. They sure as hell didn't know her real father was in fact a giant alien robot.

"Uhh, I mean, step dad!" She quickly corrected herself.

"Tai, are you sure that address of yours is right?"

She nearly fell over with shock. They were coming to the base!

...

"Daaaaad!"

Optimus Prime looked up to see his Techno-Organic daughter standing in the doorway with a very stressed look on her face. He sincerely hoped she wasn't on her menstrual cycle. That would mean doom for just about anyone within the area. Again. "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

Tai bounced forward onto her father's extended palm, and paused as he lifted up and places her on his abnormally large desk. "Problem. Big problem. No, HUGE problem. And I'm going to be killed for this. I am." She replied, sitting down with her legs crossed.

"Now, Tatyana. I wouldn't allow your death. You know that." The Autobot Leader tried to convince his daughter. What had happened to make Tai like this? "Tell me what's wrong."

Tai took a deep breath. "Two of my high school friends are on their way to the base." She stated. "And as if that wasn't bad enough, Prowl is chasing them, probably for speeding."

Silence met her words. Optimus paused, considering what would happen if the two friends of Tai managed to get to the base. And what with Prowl already trying to get them to stop…

"If I can call off Prowl, that solves one problem." He started. "But then there's the problem of introductions."

Tai nodded, trying to think of how they could introduce themselves without Fantasy and Maple completely freaking out. That would be a disaster, since she doubted she'd stay in one piece if they started asking her questions.

Sam poked his head in. "How about we try and _stay_ in alt forms this time?" He suggested.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again! Thought I'd upload the second chapter as well. Because I felt like it. **

**Enjoy. ^^**

**...**

"It's a good thing the soldiers are out." Maggie commented as she, Glen, Leo, Mikaela and Miles stood a few feet behind Sam and Tai, who were eagerly poking their heads through the hanger door, anticipating the arrival of Fantasy and Maple. The Autobots – after much grumbling (and questions regarding the two new females beauty, in the cases of a certain two sets of twins) – were settled nearby in their alternate forms. The only one missing was Prowl, but that was to be expected. He was out chasing them, after all.

"Yeah, that wouldn't work out so well." Mikaela agreed. It was still a mystery as to how the two girls knew where Tai was after a year of no contact.

"How'd they get here, anyway?" Miles spoke the question that was on everyone's mind.

Leo shrugged, hiding his own desire to see how hot the new girls were. "Guess we'll find out." He replied. The others glanced at him with raised eyebrows at the sound of his voice. "What?"

"Five bucks they already have boyfriends." Glen muttered.

"Five bucks they haven't." Leo countered.

"Five bucks they're not interested." Mikaela and Maggie said in unison. All four shook their hands.

Tai glanced around the area of the New Jersey base impatiently. She knew Maple had a bright red Dodge Viper with a large yellow flame on the hood, so it would be impossible to miss it. Not to mention Prowl wouldn't be far behind. How fun things were going to be when introductions finally came.

Bad Romance suddenly started playing from Tai's phone. She promptly answered the phone after seeing it was Fantasy. "You know, it was a lot quicker when I came to visit you." She teased.

"Patience is a virtue." Fantasy pointed out.

"And patience is something I don't have." Maple grumbled. "Where is this place of yours? It's in the middle of nowhere."

"Military base." Sam explained as Tai put the phone on speaker at his own request. "You'll know when you see it."

"Hi Saaam." Fantasy giggled. Sam facepalmed playfully.

"I'm not your boyfriend!" He protested, though he was chuckling quietly. There was a screeching noise followed by a crash. "What the hell was that?"

"The Rozzer crashed." Maple sniggered, then groaned. "And now he's back. Talk to Fantasy for a minute or two; I have some driving to do."

"She'll get us killed one day." Fantasy grumbled. "Or sent to jail."

"What's her speed?" Tai asked, trying to anticipate when the two would get to the base so she could at least have some time to prepare for what would most likely be a disaster.

"Uhh… 95 MPH, nearing 100."

"Insane woman." Tai muttered.

"I heard that!" Maple yelled as the sirens became louder. But they weren't playing through the speaker. They were coming from outside. They were almost here. Tai glanced at the barely open hanger door. That wouldn't get a car in. Especially not one going at 100 MPH.

"Jazz! 'Cade! Help me get this door open!" She shouted to the two closest 'Bots – her sparkmate and her Guardian. Almost instantly the two sprang from their alternate forms, pushing the doors wider with help from herself and Sam. The revving of engines got closer as they quickly rushed back into their vehicle modes. Everything was set.

The bright red Dodge Viper appeared from within the trees, speeding down the runway and straight towards the base. Tai bounced excitedly. She was finally going to see Fantasy again! And Maple! But how would they deal with Prowl? No doubt Maple would get fined for speeding. Again.

Tai failed to notice that Maple had her hands off the steering wheel and her feet off the accelerator as the Viper skidded round the corner to come flying through the hanger entrance, before skidding again as it swiveled to face the doors again, as if waiting to see if the Prowl would dare follow.

Almost instantly Fantasy was out of the car and hugging her best friend. "Tai-Dye!" She shouted gleefully.

"Fantasy!" Tai laughed back, returning the hug just as Prowl drove in. He braked just in front of the Viper, sirens off and light dim. Maple climbed out of the driver's door.

Sam had seen Fantasy before. She'd been round to see Tai numerous times when they were younger. She was still very beautiful, with pale skin and long, curly brown hair with blue/green eyes that changed shade depending on the amount of light that hit them. She wore ¾ length jeans that were a pale blue and a pretty black top that was higher up on one shoulder than it was on the other. On her feet were black heeled sandals that clicked on the ground whenever she walked.

"Hi Sam!" She greeted cheerily.

"I'm not your boyfriend." He stated. Fantasy merely cackled.

But he'd never seen Maple before. He'd heard Tai and Fantasy talk about ringing her but for some reason she never seemed to be in. Fantasy said she was probably out with 'Rod'. Whoever the hell that was. But now he got his first look at her. The first thing he noticed was how tall she was. Heck, she was taller than he was! Her long brown hair stretched half way down her back and was extremely straight, yet showed no signs of even being straightened. She wore a dark red sleeveless top that had 'Guess' outlined in small, black gems with an outlined leopard pattern that was also black stretching down the sides of it. Her jeans were longer, and a jet black in colour. On her feet were dark red, flat sandals.

"Killjoy." She muttered, glaring at Prowl. Although she probably didn't know it was Prowl. She then smiled sweetly. Sweetly, yet downright scarily. "Is there a problem, Officer?"

Not the wisest idea out there. In answer to her question, Prowl's alternate form began to shift as he transformed into his true form. He towered above Maple… and yet neither she nor Fantasy seemed at all phased or curious.

"…Dude, no questions?" Tai asked in shock.

Fantasy snorted and looked accusingly over at Maple. "What?" The tall brunette asked innocently. Her passenger gave her a look, and she rolled her eyes. "Fiiine. Wanted to keep him a surprise until the Big 'Bot showed up, but nooooooo-"

"Get on with it." Fantasy giggled.

"Wait, you two know about them?" Tai demanded. Well, at least she didn't have to deal with the questions.

"Well, Rod does." Maple replied, and Sam frowned. The mysterious 'Rod' again. Who was he? And why did Maple love to hang around with him so much? "Alright, big guy. Time to stretch your legs. And please don't make me stand around looking like a fool. That was NOT funny."

As soon as 'funny' had come from her mouth, the Dodge Viper began shifting and transforming as a brilliant red Autobot with yellow wing-like parts on his back and a yellow visor just above his bright blue optics stood at the same height as Prowl.

Tai's mouth fell open at the former Dodge Viper as it eyed them for a few moments, and then chuckled, bending down to poke Maple gently. "It was funny, though. I made Fantasy laugh." He pointed out. As if to support his claim, Fantasy sniggered.

"Hot Rod!" There was a chorus of voices from each of the parked vehicles, and Maple and Fantasy stared as each one of them began to transform into giant, alien robots…


	3. Chapter 3

"Anything else you'd like to tell me?" Tai asked, her eyebrow raised at her two friends, who were smiling innocently in response (Well, Maple was. Fantasy was busy smiling at Sam instead).

Fantasy, rather reluctantly, snapped from her flirtatious gazing and giggled in response. "Your father may or may not have called us." She replied sweetly. Tai's jaw almost fell to the floor as she stared up at the tall Prime, who glanced away shiftily.

"Allow us to explain." Maple pleaded.

...

_New York, 12:15 PM, 1 day previously._

Fantasy, completely oblivious to the events that would take place just days later, was layed on the couch, re-reading (yet again) one of the Twilight novels by Stephenie Meyer. Stereo Love was playing softly in the background since, miraculously, Maple had actually turned up at Fantasy's house after one of her little 'adventures' with 'Rod'.

Of course, after much arguing, Fantasy had learned the truth about Maple's 'older brother' last week.

For the red Dodge Viper with the yellow flame on the hood that her British friend treasured more than she treasured Edward Cullen wasn't at all what it seemed. It was actually a giant alien robot called Hot Rod, from a distant planet named Cybertron. Why Maple had neglected to tell her was beyond her understanding. Perhaps she was afraid that somebody else would find out and then the two would get separated. Which would bring down the wrath of the explosions artist that was buried somewhere in Maple's soul that was far too easy to find. Again.

She had just gotten to the end of the chapter (ironically) when the phone next to her suddenly started playing its usual ringtone of musical beeps. Fantasy would've smacked her head on a desk but she had no desk to do so. Maybe she could borrow Maple's later.

"Hello?" She asked after book-marking her page, clicking the green button and placing the phone next to her ear.

"Fantasy?" A masculine voice boomed on the other end, causing Fantasy to recoil and move the phone slightly away from her ear. Once the initial shock had gone, she blinked.

"How do you know my name? Who is this?" She demanded, and then feared the worst. "Uh, hold on a minute." She placed her free hand over the speaker so the male couldn't hear her voice. "MAPLE!"

There was a groan, followed by a series of grumblings and the pausing of Stereo Love from the room opposite. A brunette with unamused green eyes poked through the door. "Mmm?" She asked rather impatiently. Fantasy guessed she'd been writing a new story of hers.

"I think there's a pedophile on the phone." She whispered.

Maple blinked, and then proceeded to raise an eyebrow. "Why you telling me?"

"Because I want you to be a witness!"

The brunette paused, then shrugged. "Fair enough." She replied, leaping and bouncing into the seat opposite.

"Mkay, what were you saying?" Fantasy asked the caller innocently. Maple sniggered immaturely.

"You are Fantasy, correct?" The male questioned.

'Demanding.' She mouthed to her friend, who chuckled. "Uh… Yes?"

"Put it on speaker." Maple whispered, and Fantasy did so.

"My name is Optimus Prime. I must ask a sincere favor of you." The male carried on speaking after she'd answered. Her friend almost fell off the seat at the name. 'I'll be back.' She mouthed, and ran out of the room.

"… Ok…" Fantasy replied tentatively. Why did this guy want a favor? And what had Maple on edge? Was this a friend of Hot Rod's?

"You remember Tatyana, I assume?"

Almost immediately the brunette exploded into a series of questions and demands. "How do you know her? Is she alright? Oh hell, if she's gone and hurt herself…"

"Calm down, calm down!" Optimus pleaded quickly. Fantasy shut her eyes and tried to calm down. It failed miserably.

"Not working." She stated. "Now tell me how you know Tai."

"… It's a long story."

"I have all day, mister."

...

"So lemme get this straight…"

It was some considerable time later that Optimus had managed to explain that Tai was actually half human half Cybertronian, and that he was her father, and that she now resided with her large family of Autobots in a military base in New Jersey. And Fantasy and Maple, who had come back in from outside after a brief discussion with Hot Rod, were taking it all in.

"Tai's your daughter-" Fantasy started.

"-and Robert Witwicky was previously, until Tai became half Autobot and he… Um… Yeah…-" Maple added, not wanting to relive the time when Tai came to school a few days after the events with tears in her eyes.

"-and she's living with you guys in New Jersey?"

"That covers most of the story." Optimus agreed.

"Most of the story?"

"The reason I'm asking you both for a favor. Recently Sam Witwicky, Tatyana's cousin, has been feeling somewhat… hollow, due to his break-up with his girlfriend, Mikaela Banes."

Fantasy cheered silently. Maple gave her a 'Are you seriously doing that?' look.

"Tatyana is having some trouble trying to get him to calm down, but I believe she may require some help. That is where you two might be able to come in."

The two girls glanced at each other, debating what they should do. They couldn't help but agree to it. After all, a chance to see Tai after a year of no replies from either texting or calling was certainly the chance of a lifetime. "Sure, why not?" The girls chimed together.

"We'll need an address, though." Fantasy added.

"No we don't." Maple chuckled, her eyes motioning to outside, where Hot Rod had transformed and peered through the window. The fellow brunette followed her friend's line of sight until she saw the giant red robot, and smiled wickedly.

"Uh, yeah, we'll be fine on our own." She agreed.

"Need I ask how?" Optimus questioned.

Maple merely replied innocently. "Oh, let's just say we have a friend."

...

"So Optimus called you here because he thought Tai couldn't handle my break-up blues." Sam sniggered.

"Not necessarily, Sam." Optimus retorted playfully. "I just thought she could use a little extra help."

"Plus we haven't seen her in ages." Fantasy agreed. "I mean, what the hell were you all doing last year to make Tai ignore all my texts and calls?"

"Running away, getting hurt, battling the evil giant robots, the usual." Tai answered as if it was an everyday thing. Which, in most cases, it was.

It was at that moment that Hot Rod turned, and his optics locked onto Barricade, who hadn't transformed from his alternate form to greet him. He didn't need symbols to identify him; his unique signature was evidence enough.

"Decepticon!" Hot Rod growled, weapons exposed at Barricade, who jumped into his robot mode and growled in response.

"Speaking of evil robots." Maple muttered.


	4. Chapter 4

Hot Rod and Barricade were still glaring at each other. The instinct that had developed in both sides to kill the opposition still lingered in many of the Cybertronians, and the two had had some intense battles in the past. Their optics narrowed into mere slits of fierce death glares as they got ready to fire at each other.

"Hot Rod!" Optimus snapped, clearly not impressed with the sudden anger that had arose between the two 'Bots. "Stand down!"

The red Autobot turned and gave his Leader a bewildered look. "But-" He began, but was swiftly interrupted by Tai. Sadly, it had been a big mistake on Hot Rod's part to try and attack her guardian.

"Oh hell no, mister!" She growled. "You take one shot at my guardian, you're gonna lose your limbs."

"Tai, please refrain from attacking the new guy." Maple grumbled as she buried her face in her hands with a tone of frustration in her voice.

"Yeah, I think Maple would like her big brother in one piece." Fantasy chuckled, earning her a glare from the British brunette.

"Hot Rod." Optimus repeated again, and said 'Bot grumbled, putting his weapons away. Barricade made a 'humph' noise and walked over to Tai, lowering his hand so she could climb on. Occasionally she would shoot a few glares at Hot Rod, but kept on smiling brightly for her guardian.

Jazz merely snickered. "Looks like you're still the same old Hot-Head, 'Rod." He chuckled. Fantasy turned to look up at the silver 'Bot, and grinned.

"Bow-chika-wow-wow." She muttered, admiring the extremely sexy Solstice.

"No, Fantasy." Tai scolded her friend playfully. "He's taken, thank you very much."

"… Well that sucks."

"I suppose I'd better get going." Mikaela said suddenly. She smiled up at her Techno Organic friend. "Bye, Tai!" Her smile then faltered slightly as she turned to face Sam. "Bye, Sam."

"Oh, uh, yeah, later…" Sam stuttered, not sure how to reply to his _ex_-girlfriend. With that, she walked out of the hanger and towards her bike. The engine cut off Fantasy's mutterings about 'accidentally hitting her with a bus'.

"Accidentally my ass." Maple sniggered, having been close enough to be the only one to hear the brunette. Fantasy glanced at her with a wicked grin.

"Nobody would know." She pointed out.

"It could be a hit and run." The taller woman agreed, her smirk widening.

"Sam won't mind."

"He might not even care."

"What are you two muttering about?" Sam immediately asked after turning his head at the mention of his name.

"Nothing." The two immediately replied. Sam raised an eyebrow at them, not trusting either of them for one minute. Especially when they looked at each other and burst into a fit of giggles. He knew Fantasy was regularly hyper, but this was just suspicious.

And then Maple got the twins involved.

"But that's cruel!" Sideswipe protested, earning him looks from his comrades. Sunstreaker rolled his optics in mild annoyance.

"Maybe if we did it without suspicion…" The yellow twin lowered his voice to a mutter, and then other two joined in.

Tai left them to it.

"Hey Tai." Fantasy suddenly piped up as the Prime daughter leaped down from Barricade's hand. "We got a present for you! Maple got bored so we stopped off at a supermarket." She withdrew a packet from her pocket, and Tai squealed in delight.

"Thin mints!" She practically deafened everyone nearby, and Sam had to facepalm as he remembered the Girl Scout incident earlier that year. The packet was swiftly opened and a thin mint was popped into her mouth. Her eyes (Well, her eye and hidden optic, which she was yet to show her friends) closed as she sucked, enjoying the sudden burst of minty freshness. "Tank yooou." She mumbled.

"Whoa, Tai. Your eye's glowing…"

Tai immediately choked, but managed to regain herself. That damn optic was being a nuisance. Again. "Uh, yeah, about that…" She chuckled nervously. She had to do it. They'd find out eventually. Better to do it now rather than later. Her disguise suddenly deactivated, revealing the shiny metallic surface of her left hand side of her face and her clawed arm. Fantasy stared at it in wonder.

"That…" She stated. "… is _awesome._"

"You don't mind?" Tai asked with a tad bit of uncertainty.

"Hey!" Maple suddenly said, appearing behind the Techno Organic. "You could be the Terminator in disguise, but you're still Tai-Dye in your… er…"

"Spark."

"Yeah, that. But the point still stands!"

Optimus knelt down beside his daughter, lifting up her chin with one of his giant digits. "Tatyana, you know you're not that sort of a person." He assured her. "You are unique… And you're my daughter."

Tai promptly brightened up as she grabbed into her father's finger and hung from it, her legs dangling happily. "Thanks Dad." She laughed as he swung her gently.

"So who's who?" Maple questioned to break up the sudden family love scene. Tai mentally slapped herself. Well, they were still confused about one part.

"Attention!" She ordered, and some of the more love-to-have-fun mechs formed into an orderly line in front of her. Naturally, Ironhide, Ratchet and Prowl were absent from the line. And Hot Rod, because they all knew him. "Right! That's Jazz." Tai pointed briefly to her sparkmate, then shot a glare at Fantasy. "_My_ boyfriend." Fantasy just sulked. "This is Barricade, the _non_-evil Neutral." The Techno Organic chose her moment to look at Hot Rod, who simply puffed up his chest with mild anger. "They're the twins, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe-"

"I've changed my mind." Fantasy suddenly piped up. "I like these guys too."

The twins grinned at her and winked. Maple rolled her eyes. Boys.

"This is Bumblebee, Sam's guardian." Tai smiled up at the yellow Autobot, who chirped and clicked in greeting.

"What's with his voice?" Maple whispered so 'Bee couldn't hear her.

"Accident back on their home world." Her friend replied, then frowned slightly as she noticed a few other 'Bots absent from the line. "And somewhere around here should be-"

A large explosion sounded, resulting in the base shaking. The two new girls widened their eyes and looked for somewhere to take cover, whilst Tai just rolled her eye and optic. "-Wheeljack, resident explosions artist."

In an instant Maple had left the room. Silence filled the base hanger as the Autobots realised where the British woman was going.

"She gonna die." The minor twins, whom were later introduced as Skids and Mudflap, broke the silence by snickering softly.

"Interesting friends, Tai." Barricade agreed.

"Is she suicidal?" Jazz, after leaning down to speak to his sparkmate, muttered in question.

"Nah." Tai waved a hand dismissively. "She's just Maple."

"Yeah, she hasn't done anything past blowing up a few spots on the School sports field." Fantasy assured the giant metal beings that towered above her.

"…That hardly sounds reassuring…" Optimus responded with a hint of worry in his voice.

"So which one of them is single?" Leo suddenly appeared next to Tai, a suggestive grin on his face. Fantasy gasped dramatically and proceeded to slap him. He winced as the hand left a red mark across his cheek. All of the humans, and even a few 'Bots, promptly either started chuckled, giggling, or laughing their heads off.

He quickly retreated back to the laughing hyenas that consisted of Glen, Maggie, and Miles.

**xxx**

**The gasping and slapping is from Tatyana's 'Guidelines for Living with Giant Robots'. The second one, I think. I take no credit for her awesomeness, as I mentioned in the first chapter.**

**Hope you enjoyed it. Find out what shenanigans Maple gets into, and whether or not Tai ad Hot Rod will actually get along, in the next chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5

"God, how does Tai not get lost in here? This place is like a fricken maze!"

The annoyed cries of a certain British brunette echoed down the halls of the base as Maple attempted to find her way to the lab without asking anyone for help. Where was the fun in that, anyway? As fun as it was to try and find the lab by herself, she was having difficulty actually navigating the halls. "Ugh, this is hopeless." She decided, then raised her voice. "Hey! Blow something up again!" Maybe that would work.

As if to answer her cry, another violent explosion shook the base, and Maple giggled, acting like one of the pirates from Pirates of the Carribean. "Set sail in a general that way direction!" She announced, pointing to where the explosion had come from and setting off into a walk.

But, as per usual, curiosity got the better of her, and she had to peek inside what looked suspiciously like a games room. She was right; there were various consoles in different places, all connected to one ginormous screen. Her eyes stared in wonder at the massive TV. That was insanity on a whole new level. Who needed a screen that wide?

"Well, there _are_ giant robots here." Maple muttered to herself in answer. It was probably easier for the 'Bots if the screen was on stupid level.

Her mouth then promptly fell open. DS! More importantly, Pokémon! What had Tai caught when she'd been at the base? Looking behind her to make sure nobody had planned on sneaking up on her, she edged towards the table where Tai's metallic pink DS lay innocently. She grinned rather evilly, opening the console and switching it on. The familiar welcoming tune sounded, and she tapped the game button gently.

"Mama?" A voice sounded from seemingly nowhere.

"I hope not." Maple replied absent mindedly, too distracted by the DS to realize what had just happened. "I don't fancy being a teenage mo-… Wait, _what_?"

She was quick to put the DS down (which probably would've wasted the battery somewhat, but she forgot about it for the moment) and whirl around, looking for the source of the noise. A noise sounded, one that sounded distinctly like the welcoming tune of an Xbox, and then said console started shifting and transforming.

"…What the-?"

…

Blissfully unaware of what was happening to Maple, Tai was happily scoffing down the thin mints that Fantasy had given her as a present. Thin mints were soooo good… Well, for everyone except those who didn't like mints. Like Maple. And Mikaela. She flinched slightly at the mention of her former best friend's name. What had happened to Mikaela after she'd left?

There was a bark, and both girls and 'Bots looked up to see Psyche standing just down the hallway, tail wagging a mile a minute. In the background, Jazz and Bumblebee snickered slightly whilst Barricade just shook his head and smirked. All three knew exactly what was coming.

"Psyche!" Tai shouted gleefully. "C'mere girl!"

The Harlequin Great Dane barked again, this time louder and with excitement as she bolted towards the girls. Well, more specifically, she bolted towards Fantasy, but nobody noticed until the last few minutes.

"Um… Fantasy…" Ratchet began, reaching for the dog's ball to distract her from what she was about to do.

"She gon' get it." Skids muttered through muffled sniggers.

"Big time." Mudflap agreed, also chuckling quietly.

By this point Fantasy had caught onto the fact that Psyche was coming _straight for her_, and hoped to try and stop the dog. "No! Wait! Psyche! Stop! AGH!" She yelped as the Great Dane suddenly came on her hind legs and brought her paws onto the brunette's shoulders, causing her to fall over onto the ground and have her face licked repeatedly. "Yeah, I missed you too, girl!" She laughed.

"Ah, the memories." Tai chuckled, glancing at Sam, remembering the time she'd first met the Autobots and Psyche had literally bowled him over as well. Sam just glared at her mockingly, but smiled as Psyche got up and stood beside her owner, her tail slapping on the Techno Organic's leg rapidly. "You wanna play girl? Huh? You wanna go fetch?" She cooed, rubbing her dog's head affectionately.

Ratchet, for one of the rare times in his life (the twins had taken to snapping pictures of when he did so. Both sets), smiled slightly as he showed Psyche the ball. She barked, hind legs shaking slightly as she eagerly anticipated him throwing it. She and the Autobot Medic had become oddly attached for some reason. Nobody had actually figured out how. Then again, nobody dared to ask the wrench throwing maniac.

With a swift motion of his arm, Ratchet threw the ball outside the base, and the Great Dane was quick to set off in the direction of where it had gone.

"She'll be back in a few minutes. " Tai assured her friend.

But that wasn't what worried the pair most. What worried them was the scream that sounded. And then the second scream. And then the first scream sounding again. One of them was heavily recognizable.

"Maple!" Hot Rod was out of the room in seconds, quickly followed by Tai, Fantasy, and the other 'Bots. It had come from the games room, and Tai had a sneaky suspicion as to what had actually happened.

"MAMA!" The little Xbox sparkling known as Sparrow suddenly appeared and clung to her adoptive mother, who smiled and hugged her back.

"Hey Sparrow! Where's Maple, hmm? Did she scare you or did you scare her?" Tai chuckled, though could hear the twins in the games room, and guessed they'd found the British brunette already.

"How'd she get up there?"

"I dunno, why don't you ask her. Hey, is that your paint up there?"

"I… don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you don't, Sunny. Sure you don't."

"So that's where you hid it after I shot the old shelf." Ironhide said suddenly, cannons whirring and ready to destroy the new shelf that now held Sunny's yellow paint.

"Don't shoot the Britisher!" Maple whined. Tai walked in and widened her eye and optic when she saw her friend sat on top of one of Sunny's many paint cans as if it was a normal thing.

"How _did_ you get up there?" She asked in amazement.

"You'll be amazed at what she can do when she's scared." Hot Rod muttered.

"She managed to get onto my house roof once." Fantasy chuckled, then eyed the table that was just below the shelf. "Oh, I know how she did it! On the table-" She climbed up onto the table, causing Ratchet and Optimus to become concerned when it wobbled slightly.

"Fantasy, I don't think that's wise…" Optimus began, but Fantasy ignored him.

"Someone will catch me." She assured the Autobot Leader. "Then she jumped-" She leaped into the air, grabbing the end of the shelf, then hauling herself up onto it. "And voila!"

"Is this in Chinese?" Maple asked suddenly, tracing the strange symbols on Sunny's paint cans.

"Cybertronian." Sideswipe corrected calmly, whilst his yellow twin was fuming.

"Get down from there!" Sunstreaker protested. "Fraggit, if you knock anything off-"

"Oh it's _your_ paint?" Fantasy questioned, causing Sunny to immediately shut up. Both brunettes looked at each other with evil grins on their faces, and moved towards the nearest can, extending their arms to shove it off the shelf and down onto the floor.

"NO! WAIT!"


	6. Chapter 6

After getting covered in yellow paint, the girls had retreated (rather quickly, with Sunstreaker behind them) to Tai's studio apartment, where Maple was having a shower and Tai and Fantasy were sat down with towels covering their wet hair. Every so often, they could hear extremely loud snickers from the door, meaning the twins had probably set up some kind of contraption for when Maple got out as revenge for her and Fantasy knocking Sunny's paint off the shelves.

Whilst they were sat on Tai's bed, waiting for Maple (who took ridiculously long to shower), they had settled down to watch an episode of Chowder on the large, 40 inch Sony 1080p. Occasionally they would let out giggles as the characters did something funny to either each other or to themselves.

There was a click as the studio apartment door opened and two squealing toddlers rushed in before one of them – a little sparkling the same size as her three year old human friend – promptly leaped up onto her mother's knee, causing Tai to make an 'oomph' noise and collapse onto the cushions.

"Hi Tai-Dye!" Annabelle said cheerily.

"Hey Anna!" Her older friend replied once Sparrow had gotten off the top of her and sat on Fantasy's knee instead. The blonde three-year-old was lifted up and swung around the room by Tai, giggling all the time, before she was safely put back on the floor. Lennox would have never let her do that, but he wasn't here…

"I Sparrow!" The sparkling told Fantasy as she was bounced up and down gently on the brunette girl's lap.

"Sparrow! Such a cute name!" Fantasy cooed back. "I'm called Fantasy."

"Why is your name Fantasy?" Annabelle asked curiously.

There was a long pause, before Sam suddenly walked through the door. Whilst simultaneously being bowled over by Psyche. "Sam!" Fantasy shouted happily, ignoring the three-year-old's question and leaving her very confused.

"Nobody knows." Tai whispered to her quietly.

"I'm not your boyfriend." Sam said suddenly, and for some reason the room went very quiet.

Well, there was a reason. The snickering outside had increased as soon as the showering noise stopped from the bathroom. There were a few more clicks from outside, before skating noises could be heard, indicating the twins had gone off to presumably hide and watch their prank from afar.

"Wonder what they've done." Tai muttered, as she got up off the bed, removing the towel from her head, and moving towards the door. Fantasy got out her mobile phone as it buzzed with a text.

'_Make sure Maple goes out first. SS'_

Her eyes immediately widened and her gaze moved up towards her friend, who already had her hand on the door handle and was opening it. "Tai, maybe we should wa-"

What happened next was a chain reaction.

Tai screamed as barrels of multicolored paint were suddenly dumped on her from above. Which alarmed Ironhide at the shooting range. Which caused him to fire accidentally and blow a hole in the wall, revealing the Med Bay. Which made Ratchet jump whilst he was giving one of the soldiers a vaccine. Which caused said soldier to cry out in pain. Which scared Jazz and caused him to fall over. Straight into Optimus, who was made to fall over with him, making them land in a very awkward position. Right outside the Lab. Which alarmed Wheeljack and made him look up. Which made him accidentally press a large red button.

The Scientist's optics widened.

**...**

High above the Earth's atmosphere, a large metal being was attached to one of the many satellites floating above the planet below. Soundwave's four optics onlined when he detected an explosion from New Jersey. Right at the Autobots base.

He was quick to send the video to Mars, where the Nemesis spaceship was now located.

…

"Maybe they've been destroyed." Starscream muttered hopefully as all the Decepticons watched the video in Megatron's throne room.

The ginormous Decepticon Leader considered this for a moment, marveling at the possibility of the deaths of all the Autobots and that annoying Techno-Organic.

"I suspect they'll have survived somehow." He grumbled, then proceeded to glare at the mechs all around him. "Get back to work!"

…

There was silence as both the girls and the twins tried to work out what on Earth had just happened. The rainbow paint slowly trickled down Tai's clothes, ruining her hair once again, and meaning she'd have to take yet another shower. Sparrow peeked out of the room, glancing nervously at her mother. Fantasy bit her lip, deleting the text she'd received rather quickly. Annabelle was also quiet, waiting for some sort of reaction from Tai.

There was a click as the bathroom door opened, and Maple appeared with a towel wrapped around her hair. She too peeked out of the room, and looked up at the twins, who were stood a few meters away staring at the rainbow form of Tai.

"My little midget friend! How goes the world down there?" She asked.

"Oh shut the hell up!" Tai protested, flicking some rainbow paint at her, making her flinch slightly and promptly wipe it off. She then turned, a smirk flashing briefly on her face.

"Add revenge to the long list of things you're no good at." They told the yellow mech in unison.

Sunstreaker looked ready to murder them.

…

"I'm going to kill her."

"Sunny, cool off, will you? 'Rod will kill _us_ if w so much as poke her."

"I don't care! We need to get her back somehow."

"… We could ask 'Rod what she likes and somehow use it against her."

"I like the way you think, brother."

…

"I think they're plotting to kill you." Fantasy muttered as she, Maple and Tai listened to the twins from the ventilation systems, which were located just above the rec room where the two mechs were plotting.

"You're not an official member of NEST until you've been pranked." Tai pointed out, remembering one of the data pads she'd written on. That had certainly been fun for her.

"Can I just run back to Britain and hide for a while?" Maple asked.

"Somehow, I bet they'd follow you."

"Hot Rod will protect me!"

"And how are you going to _run_ back to Britain?"

"Shh!" Fantasy hissed under her breath, and they immediately hid in the shadows of the vents as a pair of glaring blue optics appeared at the hatch. Sunstreaker grumbled softly, and moved away to discuss further with Sideswipe.

"So what are we going to do?" She asked once the danger was over.

"There's nothing we _can_ do." Maple sighed, leaning against the wall. "I'm going to _die_. Take care of Hot Rod for me, will ya?"

"Sure thing."

"Wait a minute!" Tai whispered excitedly. "I've got a plaaaan!"


	7. Chapter 7

**I think I died of laughter whilst going through Tai's Guidelines again looking for ideas. I couldn't think straight for most of this chapter, so sorry if it's a little messy. xD**

…**..**

"Are you sure that's gonna work?" Maple asked as she and Fantasy watched Tai putting some snakes into an Energon cube to prank poor Sunstreaker. Again. None of them knew why they targeted him of all mechs, but hey, it was fun to watch him go into super-angry-oh-my-primus-I'm-going-to-kill-you mode.

"Of course it'll work!" Tai replied as she inserted the last snake. "If you doubt me so much, go and test it on Prowl."

A wicked smirk formed on the British girl's face.

**...**

Poor, unfortunate Prowl had just returned from scolding the twins after he found them setting up yet another prank outside the rec room. Apparently, it had been intended for one of Tatyana's friends, but he could never be sure with those two. He didn't want to see some poor 'Bot covered in paint again.

He was quick to check the door of his office in case there were any traps set for him when he'd been distracted by Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. Hot Rod had been doing his fair share of annoying him as soon as he'd arrived. Something told him that, as soon as some more 'Bots arrived on Earth to join them, it would be chaos all round.

Not something he was looking forward to.

After he entered (and once again checked for any little 'surprises'), the Police bot blinked briefly as he noticed that someone had left an Energon cube on his desk. Naturally, he would've assumed it was from either the twins or Hot Rod, with some sort of human beverage inside it to make him go 'hyper' or even fall asleep, but he was rather surprised when he found a little note on it that said 'From Maple'.

Well, it didn't seem like there was anything prank-like about the young British girl, so he guessed it was safe. How wrong he was. Within seconds of opening the cube, half a dozen of fake snakes suddenly jumped out and hit him in the face. Like any sane person/Cybertronian, he yelled in surprise. Rather loudly.

It was after he yelled and before he fell over, glitched, that he heard the simultaneous laughter of three, human, 18 year old girls from the ventilation systems.

…

"Remind me never to doubt you again." Fantasy muttered as the girls prepared yet another Energon cube with fake snakes. Naturally, they'd decided that they may as well prank the rest of the 'Bots rather than just Prowl and Sunny. Because that was just boring.

"I told you so." Tai stated in a triumphant voice. "Tatyana Witwicky: Queen of Pranks!"

"… I will not say how I misheard that." Maple said suddenly.

"Oh, you- There! It's done!" The Techno Organic never finished her telling off of her foreign (or as foreign as a British person in America can get) friend as she held up the cube with pride. For a moment or two she swore she could see the black version of her father grinning evilly in the shiny cube, but she looked away, then back, and it was gone.

"Right, who first?" Fantasy asked eagerly, thinking of the many 'Bots who they could scare the daylights out of.

"Hmm… Maybe Barricade?" Maple mused.

"Maple, do you want death?" Tai questioned sarcastically.

"No… but it would be quite funny…"

…

Barricade didn't even remember what he'd been doing before he was cruelly pranked by Tai and her friends.

He just recalled his charge running up to him with an Energon cube and giving it to him, before running off, presumably to find Fantasy and Maple again. After checking it in case it had glue on the bottom of it (he'd never be able to shake it off), he'd opened it.

And then dozens of snakes just jumped out and hit him in the face.

"TATYANA!"

"Why does everyone assume it's MY fault?"

…

The three girls slowly tiptoed up to the Med Bay door, another Energon cube in Tai's arms. "This isn't a good idea." She muttered, mainly to herself.

"Oh come on." Maple begged rather pathetically. "What's the worst that could happen?"

Yes, they were suicidal. Yes, they wanted a good laugh. No, they didn't want wrenches thrown at them.

No, they would not enter the Med Bay after they heard the screams of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe coming from within.

…

They did get Sunstreaker eventually; the next day, when for some reason someone had obviously seen a certain YouTube video and made a giant Slip 'n' Slide leading straight into the nearby ocean. Nobody knew who had made it, though Tai secretly suspected that Wheeljack had been watching too many Mythbusters episodes and had thought of it.

As much as it broke her spark, Prowl would probably want to ban it at some point. Though even he wasn't suicidal enough to bring down the wrath of every human – and some mechs – if he were to ban said show. He would probably get pranked by the twins for the rest of his life.

Not that that wasn't happening anyway.

Breakaway, an Autobot who had arrived a few days before Hot Rod, was the first to investigate the strange, extremely long slide that somehow started on the roof of the base, went down, came back up, and lead straight into the water. Using his jet engines, he flew straight up onto the roof, and studied the ride for a few moments, debating on how safe it was. They'd probably need Ratchet to look at it first.

Once a few other Autobots had (carefully) climbed up onto the roof of the base (making sure it wouldn't suddenly buckle and cause them all to fall in first), Jazz bent down and lifted Tai up onto the top of the base, and she promptly started laughing.

"Whoever built this is a genius!" She complimented, looking down it. If one was to slide down, one would probably end up straight in the sea. But it looked fun none the less. And she knew who would be the first to try it.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were arguing over who would go first, and after a brief squabble, the yellow mech shoved his twin out of the way and stepped up to the slide.

"Wait! Sunny!" Tai bounced up and down, getting out an Energon cube and passing it to him. "Energy boost?"

"Oh lord." Sam muttered from on the ground below, whilst Fantasy and Maple snickered quietly to themselves, knowing full well what was actually in the cube.

Sunstreaker opened it, and promptly yelped in surprise as dozens of snakes flew out and hit him in the face. He stumbled on his wheel feet, falling straight onto the slide. With a helpful kick from Sideswipe he was sent flying down it, off the end, and into the ocean beyond.

Everyone cracked up laughing, the humans going pink as they struggled to get oxygen from crying with laughter. Even Optimus couldn't help but chuckle loudly. Sadly, the remaining humans on the ground failed to notice the tidal wave that came straight for them. Sam, Fantasy, Maple, Leo, Miles, Glen, and Maggie suddenly widened their eyes, shouted in horror, and ran away as the mini tidal wave slapped straight into the NEST building wall where they had been moments ago. Luckily, it was only small, so no damage was done.

"Dude." Leo muttered. "That was awesome."

"Who's next?" Fantasy asked eagerly.

But they were interrupted as various NEST vehicles pulled up outside the base. Major Lennox was quick to hop out, followed by Epps and Graham. Tai was quick to hop down, being caught neatly by Breakaway, who had hovered down just in time, and walked up to the three soldiers as more NEST members piled out behind them.

"Major." She said, doing a mock salute.

"Hey, Tai." Lennox replied cheerfully, then looked at Fantasy and Maple. His smile instantly faded, and he became wary.

"Who're the two new chicks?" Epps asked, giving Tai a cautious look. "And how did they get here?"

"With all due respect, sir, I don't think there's time for that." Graham pointed out.

"Oh thank God." Maple breathed. "Fellow British person. I thought I was surrounded by Americans." Graham smiled at her briefly, before turning serious again.

"Gee, thanks." Fantasy muttered.

"We'll have to do questions later." Lennox stated. "We've got an inbound meteor with Cybertronian life signs heading straight for Florida." He grimaced. "And it's a big one."


	8. Chapter 8

High above New Jersey, just beyond Earth's atmosphere, many satellites floated around the planet, relaying many different types of communication to the Government, the military, or just to the average citizens. A fair few thousand miles away, the moon floated above the dark side of the planet, mainly Asia and all the countries within it, slowly circling Earth and nearing Europe. Up here, not a sound could be heard. Everything was peaceful.

Well, everything would be peaceful, were it not for the giant metal being attached to one of the NEST satellites and monitoring every move they made. Soundwave's tentacles were wrapped around the metal object, taking it over and bringing it completely under his control. Nothing got past him when he was watching every communication.

But still, everything was peaceful. A little too peaceful for the Decepticon's liking. His Master hadn't made any sort of move on the Autobot/Human Alliance yet, and he assumed that it was because Megatron wanted them relaxed and to feel like nothing bad would happen whilst one of his most loyal soldiers made his approach to the planet.

The Decepticon Leader had only told him one thing. The Nemesis was coming. And it wasn't the ship that was meant by that.

His scanners suddenly picked up a Cybertronian signal emitting from the moon. Well, actually, it was heading from the moon, going around the planet, and heading straight for the US state of Arizona. What intrigued him the most was the sheer size of this signal. It wasn't any normal Transformer that was approaching. And it looked like it was practically on a crash course.

Straight for him.

The large metal robot's head snapped to the side, and his four, blood red optics widened as he saw an extremely large Protoform comet (probably about the size of a human C-17. Without the wings or tail) heading for him at a stupid speed. Using what energy he had left he powered himself quickly out of the way, and watched as the comet went zooming past him and down to the desert state below.

Something big was coming. Or going, in his case. Whatever, or whoever, it was it hadn't stopped to take him out, and he had to admit he was thankful for that. It either meant that it wasn't an Autobot, it hadn't noticed him, or it couldn't be bothered to fight him.

Whichever it was, he knew he wouldn't have stood a chance against something _that_ big.

…

It must have been round about midday, and Tai could feel the scorching hot Arizona sun burning the back of her neck. She noticed Sam and Leo in another vehicle, sitting particularly uncomfortably in an attempt to shield their arms and necks from the burning heat. They clearly remembered what happened the last time they got sunburn.

She and Fantasy were currently riding in one of the many NEST vehicles with Lennox and Epps in the front, having just landed at a nearby airport a few minutes ago. The many Autobot alternate forms drove alongside them, including the bright red form of Hot Rod, who Maple was currently driving behind the Lamborghini twins. Tai smiled as her sparkmate and her Guardian drove on both sides of the vehicle she was in, as if sneakily trying to protect it without her father realizing.

Why the ginormous Transformer had chosen Arizona as a landing spot was beyond the Techno Organic's understanding. Wouldn't it have just made more sense to land in New Jersey, where it was a hell of a lot closer, instead of making them fly/drive all the way out here? Or perhaps it was out of control and couldn't land anywhere else. There was bound to be a reason, and she guessed they'd find out when they got there.

The ground suddenly started shaking, and her eye and optic widened as she saw the massive comet fly overhead in a blur of red and orange flames.

"Can we ID it yet?" Lennox asked the Sergeant next to him.

"Prowl's just informed me the Big Bot is in contact with it. It's a good guy." Epps replied, and Tai silently sighed with relief. It'd be a nightmare if that huge thing was a Decepticon. Worse than Devastator, even. And that guy _had_ been huge.

There was a rather loud explosion noise as the comet landed in the ground nearby. Well, actually, it landed straight in…

"… That big meteor crater?" Fantasy sniggered. "Made that thing even _bigger_."

"Scientists will go nuts." Maple chuckled on the radio.

The NEST vehicles and the Autobots pulled off the road and tore straight towards it, eventually slowing down to a halt as they neared it. Once they'd all stopped, Tai was quick to jump out, hearing the noises of transformations behind her as she ran.

"Dude, that thing is huge!" She cried out, hearing Fantasy laugh and run to catch up with her.

"Tatyana, be careful!" Her father called behind her, but he knew it was no use. This was just the way his daughter was. Reckless and adventurous. Like her mother.

Barricade rolled his optics, and walked after her after he'd completed his own transformation, Maple walking just behind him. Once the two teenagers in front of him had stopped at the edge, he gently poked Tai in the back, who grumbled and glared mockingly back up at him.

"Dare you to jump off." He teased. She stuck her tongue out.

"You wish." She stated. The ex-Decepticon chuckled, then looked down at the meteor.

"I hope he doesn't try to threaten me."

"Be comforted by my saliva!"

"… I'd rather not."

Tai shrugged, and crouched slightly, her hands resting on her thighs as she studied how steep the crater was. And how long it would actually take her to get to the bottom. "Well, here goes nothing." She muttered, before jumping and running down as fast as she could. "'Shmeaow zow!"

Unfortunately, Fantasy had decided to follow her. At the same speed. With her heels still on. Which resulted in the brunette tripping over, bumping straight into her friend, and the both of them rolling down the crater until they finally reached the bottom, sprawled out on their backs with sand covering their bodies.

From the top, both Barricade and Maple's laughter could be heard by the girls below. "Nice failure, bitch!" The Decepticon yelled.

"Oh shut up, asshole!" Tai called back, dusting herself off, helping Fantasy to her feet, and staring at the comet that was about half a mile away due to the sheer size of the crater. She shook herself again, starting to jog towards it, when she heard a string of beeps and whirrs from it. Was that some form of Cybertronian? A warning to stay away? Did it think she was going to harm it?

"Hey Tai! Don't make him step on you!" Sunstreaker called.

"Yeah! You're practically a baby ant to him!" Sideswipe added after his twin.

"… How big is this guy?" Fantasy asked after a while. Tai looked at the comet. It was about the same size as a C-17 without its wings or tail. Which was stupidly big. She was just thankful this guy was on their size. Where did her father come up to on this massive Autobot? Probably somewhere near his _ankle_.

Both girls jumped as the metal started to shift, and the Transformer began to morph into his true form. Their eyes widened in shock as it just kept getting taller and taller until it was probably about half the size of the Empire State Building, maybe a tiny bit more. Once its head had popped up, and its shining blue optics looked down at them, Tai got the general idea that they'd have a problem on their hands.

This guy… would be extremely hard to hide from the Press and the public. How the hell would they manage to keep _him_ a secret when they barely managed to keep the other, much smaller (she never thought she'd say that) Autobots hidden? This wasn't going to be easy.

The thuds of footsteps behind her told her the other Autobots had arrived to greet their comrade. "Holy crap, that guy's big." Maple muttered from her side, and she couldn't help but nod in agreement. Despite the fact that he was good, this giant Cybertronian sure was scary.

"Stratosphere." Optimus greeted the Autobot, and Tai was surprised he didn't shout it so Stratosphere could hear the Autobot Leader. Maybe he had really good audio receptors. "I assume your flight was good?"

"It could have been better, Optimus." The giant Autobot replied, and again the Techno Organic was surprised it didn't sound like he was shouting. Increased vocal processor as well? "Bumped into Skywarp and Thundercracker on the way here. Literally. Oh, and I think I scared the armor off of Soundwave."

Tai cackled happily at the thought of Soundwave being scared silly as Stratosphere zoomed by him. That was a good thought, especially after all the slag he'd given her a few years earlier.

"Well, there's one good thing about this." Epps muttered.

"Oh?" Lennox asked.

The black Sergeant grinned at the Major. "Galloway is gonna get a shock when he sees this guy."

"Ohh yeah." Tai chuckled, smirking evilly as she and Sam high-fived each other with the same plan in their heads.


	9. Chapter 9

Having insisted to her father that she flew in Stratosphere (He had picked the alt. form of a C-17 a few minutes earlier) just to see how he flew, and after much enthusiasm from Fantasy and Maple to aid her in her arguing, Tai was now sat happily inside the large Autobot's plane form, humming softly to a tune that was too quiet to be recognized by anyone standing near her due to the loud engine noises. Her two best friends were in other parts of the plane, talking away; Fantasy with Sam (No surprise there), and Maple with Hot Rod and Barricade, presumably trying to sort out the disagreement they'd when they first encountered each other back at the base. Sat next to her in his car form was Jazz, who Prime had insisted go with her when she flew in Stratosphere. Not that either was complaining, put it that way. It gave them the perfect excuse to talk without her father overhearing.

Although, at this moment, her sparkmate had been awfully quiet.

"Babe?" Tai asked out of curiosity, and the Pontiac seemed to vibrate slightly, as if he had jumped at her sudden voice.

"Oh, hey Tai-Dye. Sorry 'bout that. 'Was just thinking." The silver saboteur replied in a tone that suggested he wasn't really concentrating on the reply, but on something else, which caused the Techno Organic to frown slightly.

"What about?" There was a brief pause, meaning Jazz might be thinking of a suitable response to that question, presumably to not frighten her or give her the wrong idea. He had to word this carefully, otherwise all Hell could break lose.

"Just picked up somethin' on ma radar, is all." He answered slowly, which Tai believed, but had a face on that meant she wanted to know more, and Jazz knew better than to avoid a subject once he'd started. "A signal. And a half. It's weird, but it's like there's a Cybertronian and half a Cybertronian nearby."

"Half? Like me? Like a Techno Organic?"

"Yeah, but last time any Autobot ever checked, you were the only one. There can't be another one, unless... Eh, it's probably just a glitch. I'll get Ratchet ta sort it out later."

"That's no glitch, Jazz." Hot Rod stated in a slightly concerned tone, no longer looking at either Barricade or Maple, who was sat on his shoulder, looking at him with worry of her own. "I'm getting it too. The whole signal's got an Autobot signature on it, but the half signal... Primus, that's got a bit of _Decepticon_ in it."

"You gettin' it, 'Cade?" Attention was directed at the ex-'Con, who had a knowing look on his face, his optics narrowed, his mouth set in a firm line. Tai had a feeling that whatever the half signal was, her Guardian knew what, or who, it was. And he knew it very well.

"I need to talk to Prime." He stated quietly enough for her to almost not catch what he'd said. This was serious enough to get her father involved? She didn't even know Barricade _could_ comm her Dad. Ratchet had probably given him the upgrade to comm Autobots when the whole 'Decepticon in Autobot ranks' thing had calmed down, everyone had started to trust him, and nobody was suspicious of him anymore. That had taken a long time, she remembered. Tai watched as her Guardian walked away from the main group, holding two of his fingers to the side of his head, and muttering quietly to what was presumably Optimus Prime on the other end. The rest of the NEST team and 'Bots had been split into two other C-17s, which flew just behind them, and were visible out of windows on both sides of the plane. Occasionally she'd catch a glimpse of a blue optic peeking out of either of the planes, but she could never figure out who it was. Probably one of the major twins being nosy in one plane, and her father being concerned in another. But she couldn't blame him for being worried.

She had almost died in certain situations. Twice.

...

"Lighten up, Optimus." Epps tried to convince the Autobot Leader as he sat with one knee raised and the other outstretched, looking out of one of the small windows of the C-17 he was in at the alternate form of Stratosphere, acting as the nervous father once again. And his nervousness had a tendancy to rub off on the other soldiers, all of which were currently sat in the same plane. "She'll be fine. It's not like anything will happen easily to an Autobot who makes Megatron look like a small bug."

"Maybe." He muttered, mainly to himself probably. Epps decided he wasn't about to be reassured anytime soon, so headed off to speak with Lennox, who was discussing the signals that had been picked up on the plane's radar. The same signals that, unbeknown to them, had been picked up by the three mechs in Stratosphere a few seconds earlier. Apparently the two were right underneath them, one considerably higher than the other, and were following them right back to New Jersey, which gave cause for concern, since they didn't know whether or not these two were friendlies. Only time would tell, which was something nobody really liked the idea of.

"I'd suggest IDing them, but, er..." Epps joined in the conversation, motioning with a quick nod of his head towards Optimus. Lennox leaned to the side to get a better look, and sighed quietly.

"I thought we'd been through this." He muttered quietly to the Sergeant, who simply shrugged and gave him a pointed look.

"Hey, if it was Annabelle, how would you be acting?"

Lennox didn't have an answer to that question, which simply made Epps smirk in amusement, causing the Major to nudge him on the shoulder. "Shut up." He retorted playfully.

They were also keeping an eye on where they were going. A stretch of states right in the middle of the USA, apptly named 'Tornado Alley', was now quite close by, and the last thing they needed was a tornado to appear, suck them all in, and spit them out again, leaving almost everyone bruised, battered, or worse. The C-17s had made an effort to fly to the side of it as they made their way back to base, but there were no promises. And, ironically, the soldiers reflected, no luck.

Without even a word of warning, the alarms of the plane started to go off loudly, causing both Epps, Lennox, and especially Optimus to jump slightly, startled by the sudden noise, and just plain worried at what the pilot said via the intercom. "Three Decepticon signals have just pinged on the radar, heading straight for us. Stratosphere and the others have been notified. Hold on tight!"

Suddenly the plane banked sharply to the left, causing the soldiers who hadn't grabbed something to wobble slightly or end up running straight to the other side of the plane. Optimus had done the smart idea and transformed back into his truck form, and the wobbling soldiers had something to do in the form of strapping his wheels to the floor so he wouldn't roll and smack into anyone. Or completely demolish the rear of the plane and fall out. That would be something to explain to Tai. Once the Autobot Leader was secure, they made sure they themselves had a tight grip on something as the plane continued to make odd twists and turns, almost as if it was trying to avoid something that was coming towards it. On a right bank, Lennox saw out of the window that the back of Stratosphere was open, and Barricade and Hot Rod were carefully balanced on top of the plane itself, firing at something. That something then whizzed right past the window, in the form of an F-22 with alien tattoos all over it. The close pass made the two Autobots stop firing briefly to not cause damage to their plane, before starting up again.

"There's three of 'em?" Epps shouted over the engines. Lennox turned to the other side of the plane, and another F-22, this one apparently black, flew by, followed by a dark blue one. Indeed, there were three planes. Three Decepticons trying to do goodness knows what to them. And that's when it hit him. It hit him so hard that he thought he might fall over. Not a physical shot, but a sudden thought. They weren't trying to hit the plane. That would be suicidal, and he knew Starscream certainly wasn't like that.

They were trying to _redirect_ it. They wanted the C-17s to go somewhere, and they had no choice but to do so if they wanted to stay airborne and protect the occupants. Carefully he staggered through the plane and straight through the door to the very front, where the two pilots were struggling to maintain control and avoid the onslaughts.

"Where are we going?" He asked them in a very demanding, Major-type voice that was liable to work on just about anyone. He prided himself that said voice could work on even the minor twins, who were often scared witless of him. The other Autobots definitely found it hilarious.

"They're directing us right over..." The pilot began, but then cut off as he realized where they were heading.

Right back over Tornado Alley.

And right in front of Stratosphere, the lead C-17, was the largest tornado anyone on the plane had ever seen.

...

"Kick their afts, 'Cade!" Tai yelled over the wind that was roaring as the plane went, since the back was open and both the ex-'Con and the newest Autobot were shooting the Seekers, all of the occupants in Stratosphere as of yet unaware of the impending doom that awaited them just in front of the poor ginormous Autobot. It was going to be a bumpy ride, to say the least.

"Bumblebee!" Sam called to the yellow Autobot who was balanced on the third C-17 and joining in with the shooting spree. The major twins were also firing from the open back of the plane. Right now, the trine were heavily outnumbered, but their mission had been completed, so they pulled off, heading back up through the atmosphere and into space.

"Yeah, you better run, slagheads!" The Techno Organic shouted after them, turning her arm into her plasma cannon and firing right at the black one, which was hit and started spiralling out of control, smoke pouring out of its engines, and headed down to the city below, thankfully missing any houses as it landed. The worst, however, was still to come.

"Hot Rod! Barricade! Get back inside! NOW!" Stratosphere snapped loud enough to be heard by the two outside Autobots as the large Autobot's alternate form began to rock violently enough for the humans inside to fall over. Jazz managed to catch Sam and Tai, and Maple and Fantasy hung onto the sides for dear life.

"What the hell's going on?" Fantasy asked over the combined noise of wind and engines as the back of the plane started to fold back up again, but it was already too late. Instead of blowing into their faces, the wind changed direction, trying to suck them out, and seemed to become a dirty brown colour just outside. The now dull metal forms of Barricade and Hot Rod were seen flying straight off the plane and disappearing into the dark cloud.

"Barricade!" Tai screamed, trying to make a run for the now halted rear, but Jazz held her back. "No! Let me go! What's happening?"

"I don't know, babe, but you gotta stay here! It's too dangerous!" Her sparkmate begged her, Sam also grabbing onto her sleeve to stop her going. "Barricade's a tough mech. So's Hot Rod." He turned to face Maple, who had a mortified face on, but then turned to look out of the window, and slowly walked towards it in what could only be described as shock.

"Oh my God..." She whispered, which nobody heard because of the wind. They were right inside a tornado.

The whole plane jerked so much that everyone was sent flying, Tai, Fantasy and Maple smacking into the side of the plane, Jazz holding onto the very top of it. And Sam flying straight out, screaming in fear and terror.

"SAM!" Both the Techno Organic and the curly brunette cried out, horrified that Tai's cousin had just been sucked away from the plane. And then she lost her grip. She felt herself literally somersault through the air as she fell straight out of Stratosphere, the yells of her sparkmate and best friends deafened by the horrifying noise that met her. She had never seen a tornado, let alone been in one, and it was something she would never forget.

Debris flew past her and somehow missed their mark of anywhere on, or through, her body, the only wounds being a few scratches from the smaller pieces of wood and metal that flew. Even her own scream sounded like a whisper in the roar of the wind that whipped her around and tossed her through the twister like a ragdoll. Half of her thought that if this continued, she'd end up with broken limbs due to the pure strength of what was throwing her about. It felt like what was probably an F5 level tornado, and it also felt like it was never going to end. Did anyone else go through this Hell, when their towns and cities were hit by the horrifying spiral that Mother Nature created?

She felt herself smack into something, and was bewildered to find that it was the still screaming form of Sam. Instinctively she grabbed a hold of him, making sure that he didn't disappear in the now black cloud that blockedout all sunlight and only offered a little light to see with. Neither said a word due to their yelling, but both knew that they had the other safe in their hands. Or, at least, for now, anyway. Desperately, Tai looked around for any signs of Barricade, or even Hot Rod. Heck,what if 'Bee had been sucked into this mess as well?

That thougt was confirmed when a yellow figure went flying past, grabbing them and holding them to his chest as he went. Chirping and clicking in shock at the terrifying storm that he hadn't even had chance to research yet, he made sure the two were covered up by his hands to stop them from getting hit by any more debris.

The last thing he wanted was a dead charge and an impaled Prime daughter bleeding right there in his hands.


	10. Chapter 10

**I know, I know, I haven't updated in ages, but my muse has been seriously low, and writer's block has been attacking me relentlessly. DotM doesn't come out on DVD over here until the 28****th**** November, so I've literally had nothing to spark my muse...**

**Except Tai. Who is just plain awesome, even when she had writer's block of her own. Thanks hon!**

**...**

The desert stretched for as far as the eye could see. Tornado having long since disappeared in an easterly direction, the lone windmill turned steadily, unlike when it had been spinning at a ferocious pace when the strong winds had been directly on top of it. But whilst it looked beaten and battered, it hadn't been ripped up from the ground. Not entirely, anyway. If one looked close enough, it did look somewhat lopsided.

The sky was patched with clouds, the remainder of the monster of nature that had ripped through it sometime ago. Yet because there was nothing within that select area to be brutally damaged, the landscape looked as it always had; relatively untouched, sandy, and as all deserts did, fairly hot and lifeless. Well, lifeless except for two unfortunate, yet still alive victims of the earlier storm.

"Bleh!"

The British brunette shot up from her laying down position, having been unconscious for some time, and coughed up sand. How it had gotten down her throat she would never know. Glancing around, she soon spotted Fantasy, who lay next to her. She elbowed the girl in the side, but no response came. At least she was still breathing. Deciding to instead try to recall what the hell had happened, her mind went back to those rather quick happening events.

Oh yes, the tornado. It had snatched Sam. It had snatched Tai. Jazz had lost his grip on the two girls and it had snatched them too. She hadn't seen if it had managed to get the silver saboteur as well. She hoped he and Stratosphere were at least in one piece, otherwise they weren't getting out of this long stretch of sand. Now she understood why her mother hated sand; it simply got everywhere, and wasn't very comfortable. At all. Most of it was in her shoes.

Staggering to her feet, Maple attempted to climb up onto a sand dune to see if she could find at least one wreckage of a C-17, even if it wasn't Stratosphere himself. A bunch of soldiers trained in fighting giant alien robots was certainly better than being alone out here in the middle of nowhere. Her feet slid down in the sand as she tried to walk, causing her to grumble in annoyance, although when she reached the top of the dune, she was wishing she'd fallen over.

There were no C-17s.

There were no damaged alien robots.

There weren't even any scratched and bruised soldiers.

There was, however, a very beaten and battered Autobot Leader, with his optics offline and most of his armor spread out around him.

"... We're doomed."

**...**

Major William Lennox groaned in pain as he rolled over onto his front and pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. Having been fairly close to the tornado when it had formed, the C-17 he'd been in had spiralled out of control and crashed in another part of the ever continuing desert. The wreckage was quite literally smoking, the wings pretty much torn up and the back end completely open. The soldiers that had been in the cargo hold were sprawled out around him, but even he could guess the two pilots were dead.

He still needed a register, though.

"Alright, who's alive here?" He asked as he stood up, realizing rather quickly that his arm hurt. It must have been dislocated in the crash. He'd have to get to Ratchet about that, but said Medic was back at the base, and probably didn't even know if they were alive or not. Communications were most likely down. "Epps?"

"Still good." The Sergeant grumbled as he too rolled over to stand up, cuts lining his face and arms, but otherwise stood up and looking at least mobile.

"Graham?"

"Sir." The British soldier replied, waving his arm slightly from where he was sat near the plane.

"Britt?"

"Sir."

"Zimmerman?"

"Sir!"

"Perkins?"

"Sir."

"Optimus?"

Silence met that question. Almost instantly Lennox was looking around for the large Autobot Leader. Wait... he'd jumped out of the plane. Even whilst the soldiers had shouted and screamed at him not to, the brave mech had gone to try and save his daughter. As he would've had it been Annabelle, he realized. But still, Optimus was a hell of a lot stronger than he would ever be, and would've survived this. He hoped. That didn't stop him hoping he was close by, though. "Optimus?"

Still no response. There were fairly large footprints still in the sand, though, so he had a pretty good idea as to which direction he had gone off in. Even with state of the art radar and tracking systems, it wasn't hard to track a 25 foot tall robot.

**...**

Apparently the desert wasn't all sandy colored. A bright yellow door wing could be seen poking out of a large pile of sand, seemingly now a part of the landscape, despite the fact that it so rightfully belonged on the car that it belonged to. It stayed unmoving, unbothered by the gentle breeze the blew through the desert, and why should it be? It was an inanimate object, albeit in the incorrect place. Why should it have any excuse to move? It wasn't like it was attached to a giant alien robot from outer space or anything.

Unamused by the charade, Sam poked it.

The reaction was instantaneous. Bumblebee burst from the sand, flailing his arms wildly in a state of panic. A few moments later he paused, glancing around, realizing where he was, before his sheepish gaze found his charge. _"Uhh... oops?"_ Someone asked in a rather embarrassed voice from his radio. Sam merely shook his head in response, and went back to seeing to his cousin, who was in a far worse state than the large yellow 'Bot.

Her holographic flesh was deactivated, revealing her metal features, though they were different now. Her metal arm had pieces of armor torn off, revealing the sensitive wiring underneath. A scratch stretched from the bottom of her left ear to the corner of her mouth, leaking fresh Energon onto the sand. Her still flesh features didn't look too good either, her human arm covered in scratches and bruises from the flying debris that Bumblebee had tried so desperately to protect the both of them from.

At least nothing was sticking through her, he considered.

Sam himself seemed fairly battered, limping on his right leg, with all the flesh that the Scout could see also covered in scratches and bruises, evidently having been sliced at before he'd found them both in the noisy, dangerous storm. He couldn't even bring himself to remember the dreadful thing; he hadn't managed to hear the terrified screams of his charge and the Prime's daughter, the wind had been that loud. And even he, for all his heavy metal body, had simply been picked up and thrown around like some sort of toy.

_That_ didn't make him feel good. He had fought in so many battles on Cybertron, defeated so many taller and much stronger Decepticons, and he'd just been thrown around in what was effectively a load of spinning wind. What an ego crusher. Thank Primus Sunny wasn't here. They'd never hear the end of it.

Speaking of which, where was everyone else?

**...**

Having also been partially buried, Hot Rod grumbled and just about managed to free himself from the sand. Unfortunately, quite a lot of it was still inside of him, and it was just plain uncomfortable. Especially when it was in awkward places. Scanning his surroundings, he figured it was a fair walk to the nearest road again, and driving was out of the question. He wouldn't make a yard with all this sand. Walking was better than nothing, he decided. Besides, if he walked, he had more of a chance of catching up with the others.

There was just one problem, he noted.

A certain ex-Decepticon was also nearby, also partially buried, but with online optics, simply glaring at the red Autobot without a word. Why was fate so cruel to him like this? "You going to lie there all day or help me find the others?" Hot Rod grumbled, before he set off into a walk. Shuffling sand behind him told him the Police cruiser was following. As much as he disliked the thought of a Decepticon, former or not, behind him, even he had to admit that two scanners were better than one.

He thought back to when he'd first arrived at the Autobot Earth base. Seeing Barricade there had set off a few memories. Certain things had happened back on Cybertron to cause the two to not exactly see optic to optic, and it wasn't something he liked to think about. He hadn't even told Maple, as much as he trusted his charge. He would probably have to speak to Tai about it though; they'd gotten off to an awkward start, and he didn't want that to linger for the rest of his stay here.

"You know, we can talk about that later." Barricade muttered, almost as if he'd read the younger Autobot's processor. "All I care about is finding Tai. Don't bother me, I won't bother you."

Well that seemed acceptable to him. "Fair enough." Hot Rod replied without turning back. Barricade had a point though; squabbling was for another time. They had to find both humans and Cybertronians. And one hybrid. He then suddenly paused as he saw two familiar shapes skating towards him. Apparently that mission was for later, he figured, as Sunstreaker and Sideswipe stood before him. Though their optics were more focused on Barricade than Hot Rod.

Optimus Prime wasn't around to oversee this. The thought seemed to silently pass through all four mechs, and Hot Rod couldn't help but speak up. "Ten credits you don't make it." He mumbled to Barricade.

Out here, alone, with two Autobots who probably didn't like him all that much, and one Autobot who had barely agreed to be on Neutral terms with him?

"Done." Was all he said.


	11. Chapter 11

**I know, I haven't updated in ages. Which is tragic, but... blame the Avengers. That's all I'm saying.**

**Also, I realized that Leo was initially travelling with the group to Stratosphere's landing zone, but then disappeared from later chapters. I'm sorry, he's here too, don't worry. xD**

**Also, not a lot of action in this one. It's just a plot forwarding sort of thing. Get them reunited, and then trouble will arise.**

**...**

"Urgh, my head."

Somehow, Leonardo Ponce de Leon Spitz always managed to end up in the most pain imaginable whenever he was in a desert. First the incident with Jetfire, then numerous accidents when they had gone out to Diego Garcia – despite the fact that it was mainly a beach and not a desert – and now some tornado had decided it was going to swallow them up and spit them out. And leave him horribly bruised, scratched, and generally battered.

It was like the sand hated him. It wanted to swallow him up. It was everywhere; in his eyes, in his hair, in his cuts. That last part hurt a lot, and he had to stand up and run on the spot whilst yelling various profanities as he tried to get rid of the pain.

But that wasn't the most important part. Well, it was, but he needed to think of what _should_ be the most important thing. He was on his own. There were plane debris everywhere, but he was the only human for what was probably miles. Everyone else had gone. Sucked into the tornado? Thrown around like ragdolls? Impaled by flying pieces of whatever? He didn't want to think about what might have happened to any of the people he knew, human or Cybertronian.

He looked around hopefully. Maybe someone was just hiding behind a sand dune or a piece of debris, waiting for a rescue. He could do that. Sure he could. If he hadn't injured himself, anyway. His limbs seemed to be fine. Nothing was in unbearable agony.

"Hello?" He yelled out.

The only response he got was the sound of a mech groaning. And then what felt like an earthquake as what he thought had originally been plane debris suddenly started shifting. He had to run for his life to avoid being squished by a giant foot. He was then covered in a stupidly large shadow, and had to stop himself from letting out a very unmanly whimper of dread.

He had to end up with the Iron Giant, didn't he?

**...**

"Your leg strides are too long!"

As much as any other person would've been annoyed by the chatter of the two young women, Optimus found it comforting. If the two best friends of his daughter had survived the vicious winds of the earlier tornado, then so had his daughter. Plus the antics of the two were amusing to him. It lightened the situation that he was currently in; something that he needed when Tatyana was at risk. Not to mention the human soldiers and the rest of his team of Autobots. Where were they?

"I can keep up." Maple replied to the yell of her brunette friend with a smug tone.

"_Your _leg strides are too long!" Fantasy shot back with a grumble, lagging behind due to the fact that she had decided to wear heels that day. Why she had done so, Maple couldn't understand. Then again, neither of them had expected to be thrown into such a mess like this.

"I'm not tall until I reach five foot ten, okay?" She stated with a slight raise of her head. "I _will_ get multiples of five in my height. Just you watch."

"You and your OCD, girl."

The Autobot Leader zoned out a few times, trying desperately to search for his missing sparkling. Or anyone else for that matter. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. He had no idea how big this desert even was. For all he knew, it could go on for miles. And if the tornado had been as wide as it had looked from the plane... his team could be scattered everywhere. It would take him forever to find _civilization_, nevermind his own daughter.

Wait a second. The bond. He could track her through the bond that they had. He paused, causing the two girls below to stop abruptly as well. He was pretty sure one of them asked what was wrong, but he wasn't concentrating. His optics had dimmed as he tried to reach for her.

What he got back wasn't what he wanted. Pain. Tatyana was hurt, and he had no idea if she was alone or not. He hoped that at least Sam and/or one of his soldiers was with her. He couldn't bear the thought that she might be on her own. Not after that tornado.

Not after he'd seen the black Decepticon crash just moments before the C-17s had gone down.

And certainly not after he caught sight of a blue Decepticon landing off in the distance in front of them.

**...**

"What have we got?" Lennox demanded as his men scoured the crashed C-17 for anything, really. He didn't trust Starscream to just leave them alone after the tornado. He and those other jets would go looking for survivors. They'd go looking to see if they could find the wreckage of Optimus Prime. They'd go looking for Tai. He was not risking any of those things.

"Two grenade launchers, two grenades for them. A couple of Bot Busters, all the usual guns..." Graham rattled off as he inspected each item brought to him by either Zimmerman or Perkins.

"Sir! We got a flare!" Britt shouted from further within the plane, though shuffled further. "Scratch that! Two flares!"

"Alright." The Major nodded to himself, glancing around the never ending desert. "We can't waste those two flares, so we'll have to stretch them out. We'll fire off one first, then wait. If we don't get a sighting after 30 minutes, we'll fire off another one. Let's go!"

Epps was quick to dart into the plane, taking one of the flares and loading it up into a small gun. He headed back out, standing on top of a nearby sand dune and inspecting the area. There were no signs of any sort of Cybertronian activity around them, not even in the distance. It was a long shot, but if Lennox had the same faith that he'd had at Mission City, they'd find something eventually.

"Just as a passing thought." The black soldier turned to look back at the Major. "We set this thing off, yeah?"

"Yeah." Lennox replied, frowning slightly. What was the man getting at?

"Well, what if a Decepticon sees it?"

He hadn't thought of that. He'd be leading Starscream and his wingmates straight to them, and there was no way they'd be able to handle three Cybertronians on their own. They'd be dead in a matter of minutes, no questions asked. But this might be the only way that they would be able to find the Autobots and the civilians that they had every right to be grateful towards.

"We'll have to take that chance." He decided. Epps nodded in response, and fired.

**...**

Bumblebee didn't have the faintest idea where he was going.

Everything was yellow. Not his yellow, but yellow enough. He was directionless, and his comms had been messed up in the tornado. He couldn't contact anyone. It sucked, as Tai would say. He looked down at the unconscious Techno Organic in one hand, close to his chest to keep her out of the sun. Sam was in the other hand, leaning back against his armor and watching where they were going without a word. He was worried about his cousin.

But there was literally nothing out here. Bumblebee didn't even know if his comrades were still alive. If any of the humans were still alive. Heck, he didn't want to think that Starscream and his trine might still be flying around somewhere, picking off any survivors. They would surely come for Tai. Megatron might be interested in her, but Soundwave was the one who would probably be given the job of exterminating her spark. And he'd enjoy it too, the fragger.

There was a light. In the distance.

A flare, of some sort. That meant humans. More importantly, that meant the soldiers. Lennox and Epps, and possibly the others too. They were alive! Had he had the energy, he would've started running, but as it was he was in a bit of a state. He was beaten and battered and certainly in no condition to rush. Plus if he did, he might end up dropping either his charge or the Prime's daughter, which was something he didn't want.

So he carried on, this time towards the light that he'd seen. It was starting to dim and fall now, but he knew where he was going. He knew that, off in the distance, there were the NEST soldiers that would have medical kits. They would be able to help the two humans that he carried, even if one was only half human. They might even have working comms. They could call back to base and ask for Ratchet. It would take him a while to arrive, but it could happen.

His train of thought caused him to trip over a partially buried silver mech and fall flat on his face.

**...**

"You owe me ten credits." Barricade stated in a smug voice. Hot Rod could only look at the pile that consisted of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, beaten up a little more than what had happened to them in the tornado, but not by much. It hadn't really been an act of violence or hatred. It was just a random burst of training that they had needed to do.

Being thrown around by a funnel of wind was an ego crusher.

Although, looking at said pile, the red and yellow mech would say that Sunny's own ego had been crushed further. Beaten by a Decepticon – an _ex_-Decepticon. If the yellow twin hadn't been mortified before, he would certainly be so now. After much grumblings, the two eventually rose to their feet, casting glares towards their black comrade, who merely shrugged in response.

"If you two are quite done embarrassing yourselves, I'm gonna look for Tai." He told them, turning around and heading off. Hot Rod didn't know if he knew where he was going; this desert stretched for miles, and he imagined that their comms had more or less been smashed to pieces. Ratchet was going to be busy when they got back. He smirked at the thought, walking after Barricade, with the twins following a little more slowly. Even with wheeled feet, they had learned how to walk normally for environments like this.

A patch of black smoke could be seen within sight now. Barricade frowned, changing direction and heading towards it. He knew the other three would follow; they wouldn't let him out of their sight for a good while, at least until they found the other Autobots. Being from a different faction could be hard sometimes. He slowed as the smoke turned out to be coming from a small crater in the sand. That wasn't a good sign. He carried on, stopping at the edge.

What he found in there wasn't what he'd wanted to find. At all.

"Long time no see, Barricade." The raspy, injured sounding voice came out in a sort of cough from the vocal processor of the black Seeker that was on his back at the bottom. Barricade's red optics narrowed viciously.

"Skywarp."


End file.
